


three times jake survived (and the one time he didn't)

by hyperfixation_station



Category: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (TV)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Angst, Character Death, Fanfiction, Gen, Hurt, Hurt Jake Peralta, I'm desperate for validation, Jake Peralta has ADHD, Oops, because I want him to, because i have add lmao, cause i couldn't think of 5, except its 3 times, please read this cause i spent literally two straight hours starting at 4 am writing this, teehee
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 02:14:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24585910
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyperfixation_station/pseuds/hyperfixation_station
Summary: that's it it's literally the title
Relationships: Jake Peralta & Everyone, Jake Peralta/Amy Santiago, Rosa Diaz & Jake Peralta
Comments: 8
Kudos: 109





	three times jake survived (and the one time he didn't)

**Author's Note:**

> yes i'm basing all of the teachers off of my terrible seventh and sixth grade teachers because they all hated children

One

Jake Peralta was five years old when he fell out of Gina Linetti's tree and broke his leg. "Gina!" he cried. "Gina, help me, I'm dying!" He had never felt such pain as this, so clearly, it's going to cause the end of his life. Gina didn't believe him at first.

"Stop being a baby, Jakey. You only fell, like, five feet. That's not even as tall as your mom." Thankfully, Gina's mom heard his screams and took him to the emergency room. Luckily, it was only a fracture, so he didn't need a cast; only a boot.

Gina sheepishly looked at him after he was taken care of. "I'm sorry I didn't help you, Jakey. I'll make it better for you, though!" She bends down and kisses Jake's knee. "Now you have some of my magic powers to cure you." (Gina's sister had started watching the new She-Ra cartoon, and Gina thought she was She-Ra.) She held his hand as they walked out back to the car.

* * *

Two

***TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE ATTEMPT***

Jake was in high school. He wasn't bullied-- by any students at least. Every single one of Jake's teachers seemed to be after him.

His math teacher frequently made fun of him in front of the class for not understanding the material. Even though he tried to ask for help in the most polite way he could, he never got it. Mostly because the teacher was bad. Eventually it just got to the point where he started voluntarily failing. There wasn't any point in trying if there wasn't any way it would go anywhere.

Then, his theatre director-- yes, Jake Peralta was a theatre kid. Well, not a Theatre Kid, more like a kid who was in theatre. You know what I mean. But he loved it. His director didn't love it for him, to say the least. He never let Jake audition for anything in class, barely ever called on him, and never casted him in plays. No one knew why. Jake wasn't a bad actor by any means. Turns out the same director had taught Jake's father, who had caused the director's daughter to lose her virginity.

Jake's gym coach, Mr. Granite (that was his real name, but everyone called him Mr. Stone, because he had a heart of stone). The same leg that Jake had broken when he was little had gotten reinjured so many times that it was weak. Every time he'd get hurt (in class or out), Mr. Stone was mad at him for "trying to get out of class"). If Jake got hurt running in class (which was the only thing they ever did-- only running until the bell rung), Mr. Stone told him to go to the doctor, but he couldn't sit out of that days class, because 'what if he's faking it'? Jake was costing his family an extra thousand dollars that year just from his gym class injuries.

Then his history teacher. He was a first year teacher, maybe 24. Of course, he was also a football coach. He knew the lessons about as well as the students did, that is to say, almost not at all. He was a nice guy and all, but he didn't understand why Jake couldn't remember what they'd done in class after he left; turns out, Jake had undiagnosed ADD.

And, his science teacher. She brought up a rage inside of him that no one else in the class seemed to feel. Every time she'd speak, Jake wanted to put duct tape over her mouth to _finally make her shut the fuck up because oh my god her voice made him blow steam from the ears_. And yet, somehow, none of his classmates shared his hatred for this woman.

Then, his home ec teacher, Miss Jacobs. She was honestly the best teacher he'd had that year. She made the class feel like a family, no matter what was going on outside of the room. She was like a big sister to all of her students. But, she had one fatal flaw; she was so, so deeply Christian. Jake respected that, he knows all religions are valid. But, she was homophobic. She ignored the lesbian couple who asked her about relationship troubles. Jake tried so hard to prevent his trans friend, Wendy, from finding out; she loved Miss Jacobs like she was her honest goodness mother.

Finally, Jake's english teacher, Mrs. Greenwild. She was similar to Miss Jacobs, but she wasn't homophobic. Instead, she was subtly sexist. For instance, she repeatedly forced the over-the-top dress code on Wendy and Gina. Once, Gina wore a dress to class and Mrs. Greenwild told her to close her legs. Not only did Gina have leggings on, but she was only sitting with her legs crossed. Jake never brought it up, but Gina never wore another dress for the rest of high school

In any case, that entire year was such a horrible experience, not only for him, but for his friends and others. It made him start thinking about all the "what-if"s of the world. What if nothing ever changes? What if every adult figure in his life is a piece of shit, just like his dad? What if his friends are attacked one day, just for being female, or LGBT?

His decision was never a final, "Yes, this is it, I've chosen the affirmative over the negative." He was just feeling super depressed one day, and felt like life wasn't worth living anymore. Crying, his eyes almost closed up from puffiness, he grabbed a random bottle of pills from his mom's cabinet and chugged them. He barely even thought about it. He turned on the shower and just sat in it, waiting for it all to be over.

He woke up just over twelve hours later in a hospital bed. He held back a sob as he realizes what he tried to do, and how he almost did it. He didn't move for a minute or two. He didn't even open his eyes. He wanted the illusion of sleep for just a little bit longer. This plan was working out until he heard a few sniffles from a familiar voice across the room. It was his mom. He raised his head a bit and looked over at her. "M-mom?" She immediately threw down the tissue she was crumpling in her hand onto the chair and practically leapt over to her son. She sat on Jake's bed and he made room for her. They hugged and cried for ten minutes... or twenty... or an hour. Jake couldn't tell. All he knew was he was with his mom, and as long as he could prevent it, he was never going to try to leave her again.

* * *

Three

***EPISODE 6x12 SPOILERS***

And, of course, we all know about the incident with Pam at the hospital. Jake didn't realize it in the moment, but he knew he was going to make it out of that room that day. Injured or not, he knew he wouldn't die.

Talking down Pam from blowing up herself, the man in the coma, and Jake himself was super nerve-racking, but he handled it well.

When Pam said he could just leave her to save himself, he knew how easy that would be; but he would never forgive himself. Either he went down with her, or no one went down at all. He took an oath to protect the citizens of New York, and goddamnit he was gonna do it.

* * *

The One Time

Now, we're here. Jake was investigating the most dangerous serial killer he'd ever dealt with; Roberto Urzua. Jake and Rosa had been after him for months. He'd escaped prison twice, done two full sentences, managed to kill four men in and out of prison, and murdered every cop who'd ever put him away. Obviously, he was now after Rosa, who'd put him in jail the last time. Jake and Rosa had split up, investigating what they thought to be Urzua's hideout. Gravel crunched under his feet, even as he took the slowest, tiniest steps ever. He adjusted his bulletproof vest nervously and pulled up the sleeves on his button-up shirt. He looked down as he did so, realizing he was wearing a pattern with big checks. He groaned in his head, remembering what Charles had told him about big checks washing him out. If he was gonna die today, he wanted to at least look good doing it. And that was how he decided he wasn't gonna die today.

Until, that is, he heard a third set of footprints around the hideout. Jake's heart plummeted as he heard, "Hands up, Diaz," on the other side of the building. Rosa's gun cracked against the hard ground as it fell from her hands, and it echoed all throughout the alleyway. Jake tip-toed as quickly as he could to be one wall closer. He and Urzua were just feet away from each other. Jake was about to go after him, as he realized his gun wasn't cocked. He panicked. He needed it to threaten Roberto. He took his chances. Roberto didn't have to know he couldn't actually fire, right?

Jake took a deep breath and stood behind Urzua. But, before he could even get the word "NYPD" out, Urzua kicked Jake to the ground with his foot, never taking his eyes off Rosa. "So that's how you wanna play it?" Jake attempted a cough, but didn't succeed. All of the wind was knocked out of him; he fell with his chest flat to the ground. "That's fine with me. Just one more pig I get to slaughter tonight," he spat. He puts on a devilish, sickening smirk and growls. "Which one of you wants to become bacon first?" Silence. "No volunteers? Fine. I'll choose for you." He pointed his gun from side to side. "Eenie, meenie, minie... you." He pointed to Rosa. Jake felt so much dread as he realized something in that moment; he was never going to make it out of that alley alive. Nine tears fell from his eyes; one for each member of the squad-- Hitchock, Scully, Rosa, Terry, Holt, and Charles, his family. One for Amy, the love of his life, and one of the best reasons there was to live. One for his mom, who stuck with him through and through. One for Gina, his longest and closest friend in the world. And finally, one for baby Mac. He felt awful, knowing he would never get to raise Mac like he'd wanted for so long. He felt even worse when he realized Mac would have to grow up without a dad, just like Jake did. He finally mustered up the courage to do what he knew he had to do.

He slowly picked up Rosa's gun, which was just barely in his arms reach. He then stood up meekly and said to Urzua, "Hey, Roberto." Roberto turned around in shock and saw Peralta pointing a gun at him. Jake tried to think of a badass line to say, but he couldn't. Instead, he so eloquently came up with: "Fuck you."

They both cocked their guns at the same time.

Both shots cracked in the air.

They both fell to the ground, stiff as stone.

**Author's Note:**

> turns out i have a thing for symbolism in tears? idek man anyway goodnight cause it's suuuuuuper late ily!


End file.
